New Year's Meeting
by thisisonlineright
Summary: The ex scientist smirks at him and it sends chills down his spine. "It's so nice to see you again. I thought you'd never find me." / New Year's drabble


I have no idea where I was going with this. Happy new year, though.

* * *

It's all a blur to him, how everything led to this.

It's almost New Year's eve and he should be with Iris and the others, yet he's here, in the middle of a rundown part of Central City.

All he remembers is that this all stemmed from a single mistake at STAR Labs and a single act of carelessness for the unexpected to happen. It never occurred to him that he had seen it when he travelled through time–well, more like he didn't pay attention to it–but had he even took a second to ponder what he saw that day, this would have been easily avoided.

However, it's hard to avoid something you don't understand.

"Hello, Flash."

The man in the red suit looks up at the person he's been looking for. She looks different– _so_ , so different from what she used to look. Her hair has somehow turned white, her face a little paler along with a cold mist shrouding around her form. It's been nearly three months since he's last seen her and he didn't expect her to change so much. "Caitlin."

The ex scientist smirks at him and it sends chills down his spine. "It's so nice to see you again. I thought you'd never find me."

He glances behind her to see several lifeless bodies scattered on the floor. It pains him to think that this is the same Caitlin Snow that has helped him save tons of lives before–that this was still the person he trusted... his friend. The Caitlin Snow he knew wouldn't even try to hurt a fly, let alone suck the life out of someone. This thought causes his heart to grow heavy. "I doubt that you wanted us to find you."

"Ah, that's true," she nods, shrugging as she takes a step closer to him. "I mean, if you somehow caught me, you'd make me quit this… fun little game of tag. I've actually gotten rather used to this, wouldn't you agree?"

Barry clenches his fists, recalling all of the deaths reported in the news that were caused by his old friend. Hundreds of people across Central City, lifeless due to the 'Killer Frost' draining their body heat. Cisco hypothesized that she did it due to her extreme lack of body heat and that it was the only way; aside from burning her, that is.

"We can think of a cure, Cait. You and Harrison were able to make the serum that increased my speed! Who says that we can't cure you?" He knows that he sounds desperate with the way that Caitlin raises an eyebrow. They could probably do it. Save her. They've saved lots of lives before, which means that they can find a way to save her. "Don't you trust us?"

Her face becomes stern; even colder than it used to be with the icy sheen on her skin. "Trust? I trusted Harrison Wells and he turned out to be Eobard Thawne. Then add the Particle Accelerator and that little experiment went a little bad, didn't it? Then there's that whole Earth 2 incident that turned me…" she hesitates for a moment, looking down at her feet then back up at him, "into this block of ice. I highly doubt that it's that easy, Flash."

 _It's Barry_ , he murmurs to himself. He doesn't understand why she's referring to him as the Flash. Maybe it's to protect his identify or something. He actually wishes that that was the case; that would mean that she still cares about him. That there was still hope in curing her and turning her back into his friend.

STAR Labs wasn't the same without her. No matter how hard they tried to ignore the fact that their friend became a crazy super villain, they guilt of the incident still haunted them. The guilt was bad, they could have closed the breach without affecting her and turning her into a metahuman. It was a single mistake that ruined everything. If only he didn't overlook the tiny details, Caitlin would be on their side.

Cisco often blamed himself for Caitlin's departure, even if it wasn't his fault. "STAR Labs just isn't the same without her," he had told him when they first tried to track her down. The engineer had grown obsessed with finding a cure for her as well as tracking her down. He used the locations where the bodies were found and turned them into patterns that they used to track her down. She didn't really have an actual pattern on how she killed, but Cisco was able to guess how long it took before she hunts again and that got them a schedule.

It actually took him five runs around the city to find her. "Cisco's been working on a cure. If you'd just come with me–"

"What? So you can turn me over to the police?" She interrupts, her fists emitting mists. "Or are you gonna lock me up in the metahuman prison?"

 _Of course not! You're our friend, and we'll do anything to save you_. Is what he wants to say. In reality, she's right. Regardless of her being his friend, he can't turn a blind eye to all of the murders she committed. No matter how blind to the truth he wants to be, he is the Flash. That would be unfair to all of the people who lost their lives.

No matter how much he wants his friend back.

"I knew it," Caitlin huffs, "you're a superhero. The Flash can't bend the law for anyone. Not that I'm asking you to bend it for me."

He's torn. He's been torn since he arrived here. A part of him wants her to pay for what she's done, it would be easy. She's open, it didn't look like she would attack him. All it takes is one blast, heck, he could just grab her and run. She is just standing twenty feet away from him! It's not that hard!

But he can't. The rest of him can't even accept the fact that his friend has turned into this. He can't stand the fact that there is a possibility that he and Cisco (and maybe even Harrison if they could find a way to contact them again) won't be able to find a cure for her.

He can't stand that he could save everyone but the people he cared about.

It kills him that he can't save the person that had saved him countless times before. Why did Caitlin make it look so easy? Is it because he heals quickly? Or cause her condition doesn't just consist of a few broken bones? Why couldn't he just have prevented this from happening–

"It just occurred to me," Caitlin says, breaking his line of thought, "you could have captured me right here and now. Why haven't you?"

 _Why haven't I?_ He isn't even sure himself and it's pathetic. All he wants to do is save her yet he hasn't even taken one step in doing so. He gazes up from the pavement and sighs. How will he save her when he couldn't even imagine locking her into one of the metahuman cells. The moment he takes his eyes off of her, she would surely escape.

She lifts one of her ice covered hands, the ice slowly detaching from her fingers, "I guess you're just too soft, Flash." She throws the shards of ice at his feet, almost hitting him had he not run behind her.

"I just want to help you, Cait."

Caitlin laughs bitterly, "it's too late for you." He sees the sadness in her eyes and he takes a step closer, "and it's too late for me."

Suddenly a wall of ice crashes down around him from the sky and he barely dodges it. "Cait–"

And she's gone.


End file.
